Abstract

The recent history of Pacific Northwest Coast archaeology shows how strategies of shell midden investigation have influenced interpretive frameworks. Vertical excavations of limited areal extent, well suited to early cultural historical research, have also contributed to linear evolutionary interpretations. These have been reinforced to some extent by more recent horizontal excavations of surface features, which are designed to investigate settlement patterns and social organization. Vertical and horizontal excavations, which are constrained by the depth and complexity of shell midden sites to limited areas of single-sites, tend to promote these more general, but often decontextualized interpretations based on ethnographic reconstruction and linear evolution. Alternative strategies of multi-site investigation, in contrast, highlight the role of contingency and agency in particular historical contexts.